EU Revised Eco-design & Energy Labelling Plan 2022-2024: What You Need to Know

In May of 2022, the EU Commission published a roadmap on the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan of 2022 - 2024. These policies regulate the environmental performance of energy-related products, such as the energy and water consumption, emission levels, and overall material efficiency of an end product.                                                                                                       
This initial roadmap came into play after the European Commission (EC) entered into the European Green Deal, an effort to transform the EU into a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy that reaches climate neutrality by 2050.
Recently, the EC proposed an overhaul and expansion of its existing Ecodesign Directive to establish a new framework (ESPR) for product design, reporting, and labeling requirements in order to ensure all products headed to market are environmentally sustainable. This is an effort to meet their goals to ensure a market of products that are known to be durable, energy and resource-efficient, reparable, and recyclable in order to meet their target of being climate neutral in 2050.                                                         
The new Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR) will extend to cover not only energy-related products but will work to make them more environmentally sustainable and circular products as a whole.

This new directive will set more requirements on the following:
● Product durability, reusability, upgradability, and reparability
● Energy and resource efficiency
● Recycled content
● Remanufacturing and recycling processes
● The presence of substances that inhibit circularity
● All carbon and environmental footprints
● Information requirements, including Digital Product Passports for products

Elements of the Proposal for ESPR
There are new additions to be aware of in regard to the ESPR, such as:                                                                                              
An EU Product Passport: this digital label will offer clear sustainability information about a product and acts as a separate ESPR label that will be incorporated with the EU Energy Label.                                                                                                                      
Green Procurement Efforts: some contracting authorities will move from voluntary to mandatory promotional efforts of green products.                                                                                                                                                                                               
Battery Regulations: new proposed battery regulation with sustainability requirements.
New Measures to Stop Consumer Goods Waste: must disclose the amount of product that can be discarded per year within reason and may also ban the destruction of unsold products.                                                                                                                          
Sustainable Services: there is a business model in development for organizations to be sustainable when selling products as a service.                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Reduction of Misleading Claims: universal rules on green labels will cut down and prohibit unfounded environmental claims.

How Nemko Can Help:
Nemko offers sustainability services designed to specifically help our customers who manufacture and import within the EU and will need to comply with these changes in the coming months and years. Our pre-compliance workshop is customized to your organization in order to help you build a sustainability system that is ready to comply with the pre-compliance, evaluation, and audit processes for the Ecodesign policy and sustainable scheme. Contact us today to get started.